What To Do If
You Personally Know the Parties at a Deposition?
By Jan Schmitt – RPR, CSR, CCR – Principal, Washington
We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.
The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ...
Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.
A: Be prepared to contact your reporting office to help find a replacement, should the parties decide this is an issue that prevents the deposition from proceeding with you as the reporter. If the parties feel there is no issue, get ready to report. And remember, we must preserve the confidentiality of all parties in proceedings.
Our code of ethics is clear that we must remain alert to the fact or appearance of a conflict of interest and immediately notify all parties present at the proceedings if a conflict exists. But what if it’s not a conflict, rather you personally know one of the parties or the witness? Notify all parties present at the proceeding of your relationship/acquaintance and ask how they would like to proceed.
Be prepared to contact your reporting office to help find a replacement, should the parties decide this is an issue that prevents the deposition from proceeding with you as the reporter. If the parties feel there is no issue, get ready to report. And remember, we must preserve the confidentiality of all parties in proceedings.
Finding information about the case you are assigned to not only better prepares you for the job, it also can alert you to possible conflicts.
Email us at courtreporter@veritext.com with a scenario you’d like a solution for!
Jan Schmitt has been a professional court reporter for over 30 years, working in Portland, Oregon and Southwest Washington. Her experience and professionalism has attracted and retains the top court reporters and videographers in the region. Our court reporters average over 20 years of experience, with most of them having worked with Jan their entire career. Jan continues to report as well, as she enjoys the client contact and the relationships that develop over years of reporting.